| West Virginia Master Naturalist Class Description
| Title: |
TERRESTRIAL HABITATS |
| Objectives: |
Survey the range of terrestrial habitats in West Virginia, with
emphasis on forests |
| Class type: |
Core curriculum |
| Time: |
3 hours |
| Optimal season: |
Any |
| Materials: |
None |
| Expected outcomes: |
The student will gain a basic understanding of
- the major types of terrestrial habitats in West Virginia
- their gross description and distribution in the state.
- their characteristic flora and fauna.
- the ecological processes that create and maintain them.
|
West Virginia Master Naturalist Class Outline
| Title: |
TERRESTRIAL HABITATS |
| Time: |
3 hours |
- Forests
- Extent and importance in West Virginia
- Layers of vegetation
- Environmental conditions affect forests and vice versa
- Succession
- "Old growth" in West Virginia
- Deciduous forests
- Fall coloration
- Effects of seasonal leaf loss (input of dead organic matter to
environment, increased light on forest floor, etc.)
- Deciduous forest community types
- Evergreen forests
- Red Spruce forest
- Other conifers Fir, Hemlock, Pines
- Wildlife of the forests
- Major threats to West Virginia forests (including insects, diseases,
air pollution, exotic invasive plants)
- Shale barrens and cedar glades
- Distribution of shale barrens
- Description of typical shale barrens
- Shale barren flora
- Factors that create and maintain shale barrens
- Cedar glades
- Grass balds
- Definition and distribution
- Origin
- Flora of grass balds
- Rock surface habitats
- Physical characteristics of cliffs, ledges, talus
- Flora and fauna
- Ice Mountain algific talus
- River flat rock
- Subterranean ecosystems caves
- Formation and West Virginia distribution of limestone caves
- Cave fauna
- Cave ecology (food chains, etc.)
- Human-created habitats
- Cultivated and otherwise recently-disturbed areas
- Pasture and roadside
- Old fields
- Barns, houses, and other structures
|
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